Sunday, December 19, 2010

Matt Garthoff produced a pretty hilarious low-budget volleyball version of A Christmas Carol. I roffled pretty hard, especially at the Nick Lewin appearance. (Lewin is the head dude at RJSM and put The Net Live dudes on hold during a live interview.)

Saturday, December 18, 2010

The majority shareholder of the now-defunct AVP has purchased the sandy skeleton of the once-proud beach volleyball tour at a bankruptcy auction for $3.8M in cash and debt forgiveness -- relative chump change for total ownership of the premiere US pro beach volleyball tour. When the AVP served its last ball of 2010, it had $184,000 in assets and $4.97M in debt.

Maybe it was RJSM's shrewd plan all along to acquire the AVP by stringing it along with some cash, letting it die, and knowing they could get it for a song. Then again, what are you really buying? A bunch of gear, some balls, some signs, a domain name and a business model that is anything but lucrative.

How they earn a return on their money waits to be seen with the AVP's supposed return in 2011.

Saturday, August 14, 2010

Back in 2008, a freelance journalist named Tom Burke published "Order on the Court", a book about the viscera of U.S. professional beach volleyball. He graciously sent me a review copy, which I only skimmed at the time. I promised a full review, but never got around to it because I was busy with one thing or another. (Hey, running a beach volleyball Web site pays even less than playing on the tour.)

So, sorry, Tom. Here's your review.

"Order on the Court" is an easy read -- took me this afternoon -- with lots of juicy facts and a history of the turmoil that has marked the AVP since inception. Burke makes little attempt to mask any disdain for AVP management, but regardless of this obvious bias, it's still a notable work of journalism.

The most interesting chapters deal with the AVP's inner workings, like how sponsorship deals work; management and player attitudes; and the orchestration and costs required to hold just a single AVP event ($1M for a single event!). Perhaps this stuff isn't anything eye-opening to players and others close to the sport, but it was for me.

Most poignant is the final chapter, in which Burke suggests an end to the AVP not much different than the one that came on Friday. The actual shuttering of the 2010 tour reads like the book's unwritten epilogue.

"Order on the Court" gave me more sympathy for the AVP administration, yet even more disappointment at the repeated, costly squandering of the organization's potential and good will. According to Burke, the AVP was already considered "damaged goods" by potential sponsors, so it will be quite interesting to see what -- if anything -- rises from this latest, and most severe, valley in the AVP roller coaster.

Just two years after its players swept gold at the Beijing Olympics, the premiere U.S. beach volleyball tour has closed its doors.

On Friday, August 13th, the AVP announced it had run out of money and was shuttering operations, effective immediately; almost all staff have been laid off. See the LA Times story for more.

This doesn't come as a huge surprise to most: players have known the tour was on shaky ground for the past few months. In fact, the AVP has been bleeding out for the last couple years now, only saved recently by investment from a mysterious group called RJSM Partners.

Hans Stolfus, scribe and former player, has written a long, but eloquent, requiem for the AVP, chock full of player quotes, obscure volleyball references, and his typical passion and emotion for the sport. Ironically, it's posted on the AVP Web site.

Friday, February 26, 2010

[Wow, where does the time go? I think the 2009 AVP season was almost a non-event for me. Work can do that to a person. Luckily, I'm under-employed at the moment. And it's almost volleyball season again.]

The 2010 AVP schedule has been posted. So far, there are only 12 stops slated, with seven stops in California alone. Conspicuously absent are markets where the AVP had previously sought to expand the sport's popularity, like Louisville, KY and Muskegon, MI. Rather, it appears events are focused in markets where attendance, as well as revenue, is guaranteed.

Compared to the frenzy of 17 events in the 2008 Olympic year, and 15 events in 2009, 12 stops might feel like a slow year to some. While fans might lament the fewer opportunities to watch pro beach volleyball, there are upsides.

After recent financial woes and major sponsor pullouts, the AVP will be saving some much-needed cash in a slow economy and another year of company rebuilding.

In April 2009, AVP founder and CEO Leonard Armato was reportedly fired as the company's financial woes deepened. New CEO Jason Hodell, who -- despite his meager $50 in pro volleyball winnings -- has past experience in unf*cking (technical term) troubled businesses, seeks to make the company profitable.

Whether the extra money, if there is any, trickles down to players will remain to be seen. Event purses don't appear to have been posted yet.

Fewer events will also mean fewer injuries, which means better competition, and higher quality of play. For fans, it's simply more fun to watch.

Finally, with the exception of the top players on the tour, almost all beach volleyball athletes pay their own travel expenses to events. With no guarantee of winnings, and relatively small winnings when they do find success, travel expenses alone can drive even a dedicated player into the red. By focusing events in California, where most of its players are based, the AVP is helping its talent save a lot of money, too.